Forum:49: Cross-Purposes
Subsequent investigation into both crime scenes established numerous facts about the assailant: They are capable of copying appearances in a way normal transmutations does not cover, and using fear effects in ways that force compliant behaviour from their victims. They have some sort of armored skin and extreme reaction times. They have stolen weapons and ammunition from Librennian military caches, including an experimental new weapon capable of firing multiple rounds in automatic fire for use in close quarters. Finally, and perhaps most distressingly, is the fact that they seem to share some thoughts or emotions with Yahtuh, as one of the interrogated souls mentioned that the killer seemed to be repeating a mantra that Yahtuh heard in his dream. The party decided to follow up on this investigation from two sides: Yauthuh and Lin traveled back to Hector Carson, the priest of Baihu, to follow up on the seemingly ritual nature of the murders, while Little Guy and Artyom went with Ritter to Capt. Grant's office for information as to the killers' next possible target. Carson was in the process of being arrested by a mob led by paladins of the Order of Dona Leiria, the local saint. When Lin and Yahtuh attempted to intervene, the paladins made it clear that they would not be taking "no" for an answer, and struck at the priest in an attempt to kill him. In response, he used a wave of fear to disperse the crowd and fought back with his claws, though Lin and Yahtuh did the bulk of the work of incapacitating the three assailants. Disturbed at the thought of fighting more local law enforcement, the group retreated into the priest's secret study, where he explained that the connection between the killer and Yahtuh may be based on the fact that they are both blessed by Baihu directly. Carson went on to describe that Yahtuh had a blessing localized on his stomach, which seemed to protect him from Pandemonium's influence in Snezhny, as well as accounted for his feeling of dread upon approaching Terceira. Carson also explained that Yahtuh could have built upon that blessing by dedicating himself fully to Baihu, but chose instead to pursue a different path with the goddess Chihiro. Carson stated that the killer, if they are indeed recreating the myth of Daojian the Shadow, must be acting according to a complex ritual among the most esoteric of Baihu's teachings. Called the "Eight-fold Path of Light and Darkness", or "Baihu Devours Life," this ritual prepares a soul and physical body to be devoured by Baihu while the host is still alive, called Baihu's Divine Art of Soul Devouring. This would create a being robbed of human faculties but powered directly by Baihu's divine influence, becoming the apex predator of the entire world, and capable of feats akin to those of the White Haired Killers enchanted by Baihu's Last Breath, but permanent and immortal. The path entails eight "acts" that the recipient must endure or perform. The first is "Emerging", which is simply achieved by being born and retaining life, then "Acknowledgement" which is the act of devouring another living, or formerly living creature. After that is "Survival", which entails killing another life that threatens the ritualist's directly, before arriving at "Trauma", which involves surviving a situation that they otherwise would not save for Baihu's intervention. Then, the "Separation" involves dedicating one's life to Baihu through the act of killing ever-stronger prey on multiple occasions, "Disunity" involves actively rejecting bonds or connections with other humans "Subsumption" entails the destruction of human emotions and the removal of any remaining ties to the human world (in this case systematized by the act of murdering connections to the past life) and "Awakening" which will finally remove the soul from a living body to become Baihu's vessel. According to Carson, the fact that these murders are now occurring must mean that the killer is in the midst of experiencing "sumbsumption," and "awakening" must not be far off. He even doubts that the intervention of the party would be able to prevent "awakening" at this point, thus their priority, if they wish to stop the killings, is to simply hide the purported victims from the predatory killer, as an attempt to kill or assault the killer directly will almost certainly fail, given that Baihu now has an interest in seeing them complete their goal. Carson's reaction to this news, notably, was unabashed glee, as he stated that he felt privileged to bear witness to the arrival of a vessel of Baihu and that he would diligently record the events that would transpire henceforth. Lin noted with some unease that he was also likely feeling vindication at seeing his god assert itself in such a manner before people who mistreated him previously. On Ritter, Little Guy and Artyom's side of the investigation, the office where Grant worked, ostensibly a large-scale operation, were completely abandoned with some minor signs of disarray, such as a file folder out of place and a few unlocked doors. On investigating the rooms, two things became quickly apparent: there were no firearms currently present though they were there before, and a number of records documents had been clumsily altered as several pages were missing. They pertained mostly to material inventory, and as such likely contained evidence of guns that had been removed from the official records for sale on this incredibly extensive black market. While searching the records offices, however, Artyom heard noise of a door creaking from the hallway, and the party quickly reassembled when it was apparent that they were not alone in the building. On coordinating a breach into the office where their infiltrator was located, the group found only Karl Lexington, who appeared to be investigating the killings independently of the larger Librennian military effort. Ritter, incensed, accused Lexington of working on the killer's behalf, feeding them information on the goings-on of the arms traders, and claimed that this was now likely a Librennian Intelligence black operation. Lexington, for his part, denied that there was a black operation, but was hesitant to reveal information on the extent of his own involvement with Ritter present. The two groups thus separated again to speak to each man individually. Lexington said that his assignment was to go undercover with the Librennian military police in Terceira in an attempt to determine whether or not a black arms market was there. He had apparently succeeded and identified several conspirators, including Pvt. Tilden who had acted as a primary point of contact/tailing target. On following the Private home from the Red Lady, Lexington apparently caught a glimpse of the killer, but they moved so quickly that he was not able to identify them. He also could not call in the attack as it would have compromised his cover, but he did observe that the person to do so was one of the other black market conspirators, and that conspirator took care to remove the weapon Pvt. Tilden was carrying illegally. Ritter, for his part, was showing signs of further breakdown as more facts of the rot within the military police came to light, and as Little Guy made clear, it was apparent that this cleanup must have happened at least since Grant spoke to Ritter while he was still alive, perhaps even before then. This meant that the progress of the investigation itself was likely making the conspirators go into hiding. Ritter could not accept this, as it called into question the entire investigation structure, as well as the oversight of Commander Douglass, the senior-most officer of the Librennian military police in Terceira. Little Guy encouraged Ritter to maintain an optimistic viewpoint, and Ritter in turn offered to allow the group to conduct an off-the-record investigation in the hopes of uncovering a way to both arrest and protect the conspirators. Lexington followed up on his discussion with Lin with a request to proceed to a military police station identified in the records as a possible hiding place for off-book weapons. He was going there under his cover persona to investigate whether or not any weapons were still there, and with the party's support conduct an operation to arrest everyone on-site. He hoped that this would at least result in a few live witnesses or suspects as opposed to an impending massacre, and with that the party headed towards the Rua Calle...